The observation that the poorest of Hurricane Harvey survivors become “entangled in disputes and complications with the Federal Emergency Management Agency” is so true.

After Harvey, FEMA denied about half of all the people in the Houston area who applied for assistance, but many denials were not justified. In the last year, advocates at Lone Star Legal Aid helped more than 960 households navigate the complex FEMA application process, including 56 who successfully appealed FEMA denials or underpayments.

The 56 successful appeals resulted in monetary assistance totaling more than $400,000.

My colleagues at Lone Star Legal Aid and many other legal aid lawyers were there for them, but it’s frustrating that we had to appeal just to get people the help they should have received at first.

It’s more frustrating that our clients are just a fraction of the people out there who needed our help to appeal FEMA.